Roman Catholicism And The Challenge Of Globalization

10.1163/ej.9789004174702.i-788.150

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Chapter Summary

Roman Catholicism presents itself as a world institution: it is established in the most far-flung corners of the earth and organized on a scale that reflects its worldwide mission. On the other hand, globalization is producing a culture of autonomous units against which the Roman system has fought unrelentingly for two centuries which is increasingly removed from the integrated universe envisaged by Catholicism. At the theological level, the Catholic vision for the world is rooted in the universalist project, which is common to all Christian denominations and central to Christianity itself. The most recent instance of Catholicism's shift into modernity is the invasion of the Catholic scene by styles of religiosity given to subjectivization of belief and individualized change in practice.